Implementing Public Policy: An Introduction to the Study of Operational Governance (3rd Revised edition)

Description

Building on the success of the previous two editions, this book provides students with an exemplary overview of the theory and practice of public policy implementation and how it relates to contemporary public management. In doing so, this new edition makes use of more illustrative examples, delves further into researching implementation and explores issues about the relationship between policy formulation and implementation in greater depth. Written for an international audience, this is essential reading for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students studying or conducting research in public policy, social policy, public management, public administration and governance.

Create a review

About Author

Michael Hill is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy of the University of Newcastle, and Visiting Professor in the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics and in the School of Applied Social Science University of Brighton. Michael has published widely on the topic of public policy, and most recently co-edited the SAGE major work Public Policy (with P. Hupe, published 2012). Over the years his research interests have focussed on varied topics such as race relations, unemployment, housing, social security and housing benefit He was given a lifetime achievement award by the Social Policy Association in 2009. Peter Hupe teaches Public Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 2012-2013 he was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. His research focuses on the theoretical-empirical study of the policy process, particularly implementation and street-level bureaucracy. In a longstanding collaboration he and Michael Hill have published articles in Public Administration, Public Management Review and Policy and Politics. With Aurelien Buffat they edited Understanding Street-Level Bureaucracy (2015).

Contents

Introduction Introduction Structure of the book Some matters of definition Notes Positioning Implementation Studies Introduction Concerns about implementation: Historical origins The rule of law The idea of democracy and its implications Public Administration and Public Management Institutional theory Postmodernist theory Conclusion Notes Implementation Theory: The Top-Down/Bottom-Up Debate The discovery of the 'missing link' The classical top-down authors The bottom-up challenge Conclusion Implementation Theory The search for a synthesis Where does implementation begin Layers in policy processes Networks: Broadening the horizontal dimension Managing performance: Redefining the vertical dimension Differentiating policy types Including responses of affected actors Conclusion Implementation and Governance Introduction The age of interventionism The age of the market and corporate government The age of neo-interventionism Assessment Conclusion Notes Implementation Theory and the Study of Governance Introduction The stages model of the policy process Alternative analytical frameworks The Multiple Governance Framework Studying implementation as governance research Conclusion Notes Researching Implementation Introduction Defining studies of implementation Explaining what needs explanation Isolating implementation Dealing with layers Specifying inter-organizational relationships Differentiating agency responses Identifying stakes Recognizing macro-parameters Quantitative versus qualitative studies Conclusion Implementation in Context Introduction Implementation in practice The quest for appropriate action Policy settings Institutional environments Operational governance in context Conclusion Notes The Future of Implementation Studies Introduction The objective of studying implementation The study of governance in operation Promising developments Conclusion